Episodes

We often think of social media as a negative element of the college process, but what if there was a way to use it to your advantage? We’ll discuss this and some specific suggestions for using LinkedIn as part of your college applications. Did you know that financial aid is available at community college? We’re giving you an inside look at one such office and offering tips on how to best leverage what’s available to you there. In Office Hours, we’re helping you get started on the Common App.

College is expensive enough—you don’t want to spend what’s left of your money on books and dorm supplies. We’re offering tips for finding bargains on this new round of expenses. If you’re preparing to welcome your student back home (or worried about that moment in the future), we have some suggestions for what to expect and how to prepare. Finally, if you or your student are considering going abroad for college, we have suggestions on how to find the perfect university in the UK.

If you’re considering traveling outside of the United States for college (or even if you’re not), you might want to include Canada in your college process. We’ll walk you through why Canada might be a good choice and offer resources to help you search for the best fit options. In Office Hours, we’re answering your college finance and admissions questions.

STEAM is a new acronym that has been tossed around quite a bit recently. In this week’s show, we’ll explain what it is and which colleges offer programs in this area. Sending a teenager off to college can be scary for many reasons. Preparing your teen financially for this transition can help to reduce fear and make for a smoother entry into this new environment. In Office Hours, we’ll debate the pros and cons of starting the higher education path at a two-year college.

One of the most important elements of the college process is making a plan and setting goals. This is the time of the year to review what was accomplished and write down some goals for the current year, and we’ll be discussing suggestions for how to do this and what to focus on. Summer is also a great time to get in standardized test prep, and we’ll offer ideas for that. Finally, if you’ve ever wondered what loan forbearance is and how it works, wonder no more—we’re going to tell you all about i...

Summer is a very important time in the college process. Two very important items to focus on: planning and making the most of college visits, and getting started on your main essay. We’ll talk about both in this week’s episode. We’ll also explain how refund policies work, which is important to understand if you find yourself unable to attend for a semester for some reason.

If you’re considering Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC for short), don’t miss this week. We welcome a recent program graduate and her mom to discuss how she decided this was the right program for her, how mom felt about the decision then and now, and things to consider from both the application and finance perspective. In Office Hours, we’re answering your questions on college admissions and finance.

In last week’s Getting In, we discussed the importance of a distinguishing excellence for those students hoping to be admitted to the most selective schools in the country. This week, we walk you through the best way to present that DE in your applications. In Office Hours, we’re talking about starting the activity section of the application and creating an application resume if necessary. For all those work study students out there or those that simply hope to get a job, we’re offering advice o...

If you aspire to one of the most selective colleges in the country, you must have something that takes you from competitive to compelling. We discuss the concept of a “distinguishing excellence”—what it is and how you can get one. For graduating high school seniors and their parents, we go over the required steps and offer some tips for making a successful transition to college.

One year ago, NY State established the Excelsior Program offering free tuition to qualifying state residents at state institutions. As the program heads into its second year, we’ll revisit how the program works and share information about how students can take advantage of it. For students and families who have made the decision to pursue homeschooling as an alternative to a traditional school setting, the college admissions process can be a bit more challenging. We’ll discuss what you need to k...

Teenagers who are both talented athletes and strong students might be able to leverage those abilities in the Ivy League admissions process. We’ll investigate how that process works from the perspective of someone who was both an Ivy League recruited athlete and admissions officer. We’ll also explain how income-driven repayment plans work and talk through how to select a college major in Office Hours.

It’s down to the wire for this year’s seniors, with deposits due to the college of their choice by May 1. For those struggling with this decision, we’ll offer tips for evaluating your acceptances and choosing the best option. We’ll also answer listener college finance and admissions questions in Office Hours.

As the world becomes more global and a greater number of students look for college options farther from home, we’re seeing lots of interest in the UK university system. We’re going to explore some common myths related to applying to and attending university in the UK, and hopefully offer a better understanding of the reality. We’ll also talk about the beauty of payment plans in helping families better budget for and pay for college. And in Office Hours, we’ll cover some common questions related ...

There are two important parts of every college lists: finding the best fit colleges where the student can get in and pay for. We’ll devote two segments to those ideas this week, focusing on how to get started on the list and how to incorporate the paying angle into the search process. We’re doing another segment on waitlists in Office Hours, this time from the perspective of the colleges. We’ll share how they use waitlists and what that means for students who currently have waitlist decisions fr...

We’re tapping our colleagues’ experience this week to offer insight into Goucher College and how they approach admissions and Babson’s financial aid process. In Office Hours, we’re offering advice about how to make the most of resources available at your high school to support you in preparing for and successfully applying to college.

Every year the National Association of College Admissions Counselors studies the state of college admissions and issues a report. We have the results of this year’s report, and we’re going to share some highlights. If you’re planning to get loans to help pay for college, don’t miss our segment on how much is too much too borrow when it comes to money for higher education. We’ll also offer tips for students on the waitlist in Office Hours.

Is it better to be a small fish in a big pond or a big fish in a small pond? And what does aquatic life have to do with college anyway? Tune in for our take. We’ll also answer your college finance and admissions questions in Office Hours.

We’re big fans of college visits, because there’s no substitute for getting a firsthand view of the institution. But not all visits are created equal, so in this week’s episode we’ll be helping you avoid some common campus visit mistakes. We’ll also wrap up our two part series on common college finance myths and help you prepare for regular decision results in Office Hours.

For students in the final stages of deciding which school to apply to or attend, overnight visits can really make a difference. Tune in to learn more about the value of the overnight visit. We’ll also talk about the pros and cons of urban, rural, and suburban campuses and tackle the most college finance myths in part one of a two part series.

Whenever major changes are made to a standardized test, there’s a transition period during which colleges are receiving scores from both the old and new tests. If you’re wondering how colleges handle that, tune in this week for a discussion of conversion charts—why they exist and how they’re used. ArborBridge test prep’s senior director of instruction, Megan Stubbendeck is our expert guest. In Office Hours, we’ll look at the nuts and bolts of college visits. And finally we’ll talk through using ...

If you assume that all future doctors should major in biology, future PR practioners should major in communications, and future business leaders should major in business, you don’t want to miss this week’s segment exploring the connection between major and career. Guest Michael Sherman of Graduate to Employment will share his expertise on what truly makes someone a good candidate for a position. In Office Hours, we’re answering listener questions on college finance and admissions.

Ever think that being the parent of a student in college should come with a tax break? You’re in luck—it does, and we’re going to tell you all about them in this week’s show. In our Summer Program series we’re looking at opportunities in the arts. Finally, Office Hours will cover everything you need to think about related to senior year transitions.

This week’s Summer Program series segment is all about the wide variety of options available in volunteering. Doing good for free is easier than you think! We’ll also walk through negotiating scholarships and explore trends and statistics from the early action, early decision, and priority decision rounds.

The latest segment in our Getting In series on summer programs focuses in on all the options available to students interested in sports, whether playing, refereeing, managing, etc. We’ll also help families understand how to best appeal a financial aid award. Office Hours is all about early action decisions—why certain colleges might make the decisions they do, what a deferral can mean for regular decision, and more.